CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than
its failure to observe its own laws, or worse, its disregard of the charter of
its own existence (Brandeis 1928). There are multitudes and countless areas or
fields of human endeavour, each with its own peculiarity. For one to have a
good grip of the embodiment of each or any, one needs education on it.
Education may be defined as the training, teaching, sensitization and
socialization of a learner towards effective and result oriented performance of
roles. Besides, at the mention of citizenship, the individual and the state
come to mind. The education of an individual concerning himself and his state
that will not only socialize but emancipate and transform him for functional
roles in a dynamic society is citizenship education. Ndoh (1997) says that
citizenship refers to membership of a given state or nation, and that a citizen
can therefore be defined as a legal member of a particular state or country.
The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Sections 25(1) and
(2), 26(1), 27(1) and (2) and 31 spelt out who can be deemed a Nigeria citizen.
We shall unveil this in the later part of this paper.
Citizenship education will enable members of a
society acquire full knowledge, not only of the state, but also of their duties
and obligations to the state, their rights and expectations from the state, the
necessity of total conformity with accepted ways and standards of life of the
people, the need for full compliance with rules and regulations and total
allegiance to the state. The summary of it all is the need for relevant
education that will transform the citizens to live legally in the society and
contribute meaningfully to its progress. It is this kind of socialization
orientation and training that can properly be referred to as education for
citizenship. According to Nkang (2007), education should be relevant to the
needs of the learner which changes from to time. She added that a lot of things
have been done to make the new system relevant to the needs of the Nigerian people.
Every nation has roles towards its nation-building
and therefore need capable role players for a strong and reliable nation. To
perform their full potentials, the citizens need relevant citizenship education.
No one gives what he does not have. Effective and relevant education for
citizenship is, therefore, compulsory for all and sundry in a society,
particularly the youth in the contemporary period when things are not only
falling apart, but are no longer at ease with all races the world over especially
in Nigeria. An Igbo adage says that when a strong bull escapes a strong man
goes after it. In recent years, insecurity and crimes in Nigeria have taken the
form of piecemeal revolutions. Measures at fighting them should include
concrete and effective citizenship education spread out to reach the entire
citizenry, especially the young.
Purpose of
Citizenship Education
The purposes of citizenship education are many and
varied. They include socializing children against juvenile delinquency,
disrespect for elders and all sharp practices that often metamorphose into
full-blown crimes. Our youths have acquired international notoriety in such
crimes as drug trafficking and addiction, child trafficking, swindling and
advance free fraud. For the home-based, the contemporary social ills that
plague the nation include: armed robbery, indolence, truancy, smuggling, dishonesty, sharp-practices, and
most recently and dangerously kidnapping and suicide bombing. Those in higher
institutions pride themselves in cultism, robbery, violence, gross indiscipline,
examination mal-practice and campus unrests. There has been public out cry over
unemployment against the government, but it has been observed that those who
have gained one employment or the other demonstrate unprecedented truancy and
ingratitude towards their government employers. The magnitude of dishonesty,
embezzlement of public funds, looting government treasuries, diverting public
funds and materials to private use, bribery and corruption they practise is
inexplicable. Ndukwe (2013) cried out:
Two distinct challenges are insidiously eating away
at whatever gains Nigeria has made in the economic arena as well as its
socio-cultural stage since pursuing a pro-democratic agenda.
What are they? Insecurity and Inconsistent power
supply. Lawlessness is a plague that steals the light of a nation. A lawless
State is rife with insecurity and its citizens are slaves to such order. Nigeria
is witnessing an alarming trend in lawlessness and insecurity. There is hardly any
breaking news in the mainstream media without an account of some form of
security challenges, acts of violence, ethno-centered strife or religious
fuelled clashes. It is either Boko Haram in the Northern corridor or Kidnapping
in the South-South and South East geopolitical zone. There is still mutual
distrust among the different ethnicities in Nigeria against each other. These and
other vices have for decades ravaged our nation due to very poor socialization
or complete ignorant of citizenship education. The purpose of education for
citizenship is to create sufficient awareness, sensitize both the old and the
young to imbibe the spirit of self-reliance, good citizenship, respect for our
national emblems and ethics and the desire to build a strong and reliable
nation. For our purpose, this paper restricts our discussion to the
under-mentioned areas, since they highlight the basic aspects of citizenship
education.
i) The concept of citizenship, the state, the
Government and the people of Nigeria
ii) The purport of nationality/nationalism iii)
Acquisition of citizenship, Dual citizenship, deprivation of citizenship
iv) Duties and obligations of citizens to the state
v) Rights and expectation of citizens from the state
vi) National Ethics, Education policy, Economic
Policy, National integration, Political socialization, Political Objectives and
the need to observe these ideals and aspirations.
Thereafter, recommendations for a functional
citizenship education will be put forward.
CHAPTER
TWO
THE
CONCEPT OF CITIZENSHIP, THE STATE, THE GOVERNMENT AND THE CITIZENS
The Concept of Citizenship has been taken care of in
the introductory part of this discussion.
The State
According to Appadorai(1969), state refers to those
social relationships that express themselves through government. The state
includes both the Government and the governed. From his point of view, the
state is a way of regulating human conduct, it orders us not to murder; it
punishes us for a violation of its orders. Ndoh (1997) sees a state as the
societal institution which monopolizes the instrument of coercion, the
omnipotent institution in a given society. He added that the state exists to
facilitate the creative potentials of the individual, and carters for persons
in its sphere. Rather than see government as the expression of the state which
include both the Government and the governed, but those at the helm of our
affairs see government and its business as their individual business, rather
than a common wealth and collective responsibility, hence they neglect the governed
who have now taken up arms in retaliation. “The pervasive kidnapping of
mafia-like phenomenon sweeping across the South-South and South East incenses
this pathetic development. Anyone, and particularly those who show signs of
wealth are free game for the kidnappers. Foreign nationals are prime victims.
There is report that even politicians and feuding leaders employ the services
of kidnappers to further their mundane agendas” (Ndukwe 2013).
Different scholars see the state and its purposes in
different perspectives. Apart from Karl
Marx who saw the state as an instrument for class
domination or exploitation, many others saw it as existing for justice and the
good life of the citizens. For Thomas Hobbes, the state functions to provide
protection for the individual. For Aristotle, the state provides the “Good
life”. Plato, on his part, says the state promotes justice in the society.
Before the arrival of the colonialists, the
different ethnic groups in Nigeria were in existence.
The Nigeria state is a child of colonialism. No
wonder, Achebe (2012) said: “Great Britain was handed the area of West Africa
that would later become Nigeria, like a piece of chocolate cake at a birthday
party. Without education for citizenship, Nigerians, particularly, children and
youths will not know, let alone appreciate that as a state, Nigeria functions
to provide the “Good life” for her citizens, only bad leadership has made her
appear an instrument of class domination. “Boko Haram and their unchecked
bloody assaults have independently caused a grave loss of revenues to the tune
of billions of Naira both for the private and public enterprise. The
accompanying human casualties from Boko Haram’s onslaught have decimated
household’s abilities to earn income. The toll on potential foreign investment
opportunities is another challenge brought about by insecurity.
Foreign multinationals are beginning to dial down on
their enthusiasm to venture into our State.
This is, despite the known fact that leading
evaluators of “developing economics” point to Nigeria as a proven haven for
market profitability” (Ndukwe 2013).
The Government
and Citizens of Nigeria
Members of every society need to be trained and
sensitized towards seeing and appreciating the government as the expression of
the state. It is the legislative arm that makes laws for the good governance of
the state. The laws need to be executed and interpreted, and these functions
the Executive and the Judicial arms perform. There is no state without
government, else the environment will manifest the anarchy reminiscent of the
state of nature. Nigeria runs a federal government with the component states
reflecting the diverse ethnicities in the country. The Federal government is
the centre of government, and has its seat at Abuja, the component states are responsible
to the centre. For the government and people of Nigeria, Chapter II, Section
14(1) of the 1999 Constitution provides among other things: The Federal
Republic of Nigeria shall be a State based on the principles of democracy and
social justice, and sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom
government through the Constitution derives all its powers and authority. What lofty
ideals for justice and the ‘Good life’ for us all.
The participation of the people in their government
shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution, not
with retaliatory followership traits, sadism or devastation of human and
material resources. Our lofty ideals and aspirations have been swept under the
carpet by the failure of our past regimes to observe the laws. The patience of
people are exhausted, hence the followers, particularly the youths, have taken
up arms against the government. Ndukwe
(2013), quoted Clark Tom, J. as he then was, as
saying, in the case of MAPP VS OHIO (1961)
36745, 643: “Our Government is the potent, the
omnipresent teacher… for good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its
example. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it
invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy”. This is currently
the problem with Nigeria - for which insecurity is here.
Nationality/Nationalism
Nationality is synonymous with citizenship.
According to Onuoha (1995) nationality refers to a person belonging to a
country or nation. There is the need to teach citizens of this great nation that
nationalist activities, particularly before independence, need not be neglected,
but imitated and continued. Consumed with the spirit of nationalism they, in
spite of all odds, formed political parties from which delegations were sent to
London to relentlessly press the British government with demands for
self-determination for Nigeria. Do we need to define nationalism again, when people
like Herbert Macualey, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, for
example, in demonstration of their strong devotion to Nigeria, struggled
through decades for the freedom of
Nigeria.
The ways of life that seem to be valued today in our
society – armed robbery, swindling, Advanced Freed Fraud, looting of public
treasuries, corruption and most recently kidnapping and suicide bombing – are
opposed to the spirit of nationalism. Unpatriotic citizens or those ignorance of
citizenship education think that the struggle for our independence has ended
with the nationalists achieving our freedom from foreign rule. They only
achieved weak political independence which has been marred by mismanagement. According
to Uzosike (2013), the understanding of citizens that the mismanagement of
state resources directly impacts on their individual economy will be the first
outcome of their fight which will change the face of governance in the
southeast and grow democracy in the right direction. But it is our view that
without concrete citizenship education, such understanding will still leave
much to be desired, and as such not change the face of governance from and in
the right direction.
Political Objectives: The political objectives of
Nigeria, among other things, contains the Motto of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, which is unity and Faith, Peace and progress, as enshrined in Section
15 of the 1999 Constitution. Concrete education for citizenship should be drawn
up for the youths – to achieve our national integration to prohibit
discrimination on the grounds of place of origin, sex, religion, status, ethnic
or linguistic association or ties. Only effective citizenship education
emphasizing our political objectives and national integration can inculcate a
feeling of belonging and of involvement among the various peoples of the
Federation, particularly the youths, to the end that loyalty to the nation
shall manifestly override sectional loyalties.
National Identity: Identity is something one is
known with, something that identifies or marks a person out, as a different
person, from others. Nigeria takes her pride of place among other nations of
the world, as a country unique with symbols that make her enviably different.
Our national identities include the Nigeria flag, her national anthem, the
pledge, her currency and the plaque. The Nigeria flag is coloured green, white
and green. The white colour represents unity and peace, the green symbolizes
agriculture.
Education for citizenship is a sine quo non for
grooming good citizens – for a strong, selfsustaining and reliable nation. It
will instill in the young the love for agriculture which is the major occupation
of the people, so much valued by the people that it is embedded on our national
flag.
Nigeria’s national symbol is the Coat of Arm.
Citizenship education teaches that the picture and diagrams on the Coat of Arm
mean: (i) the black shield signifies the good and fertile land of
Nigeria; (ii) the two white horses symbolizes the
dignity of Nigeria; (iii) the red Eagle – the strength; (iv) the Y symbol
represents the rivers Niger and Benue. Education for citizenship should include
sensitizing the masses, especially the youths on our national identity – to
infuse in them the patriotic spirit to respect, preserve and guard jealously
our symbols and most importantly, be ready and willing at all times to defend
our father land.
National Ethics: Majority of people are ignorant of
Nigeria’s national ethics. No wonder vandalism, violence, social unrests,
indolence, religious intolerance, insecurity, have persisted. The 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Section 24 provides that: the
national ethics shall be discipline, integrity, dignity of labour, social justice,
religious tolerance, self-reliance and patriotism. Without education for
citizenship, majority of us will remain ignorant of these and consequently
cannot make any meaningful contribution to the society and worst still,
constitute nuisance and contravene the laws. These spates of uncanny acts have
put the nation in a state of perpetual flight or fright. Law abiding citizens
are terrified of moving about as freely as they enjoyed in the past. Business
and general commerce are negatively impacted. (Ndukwe 2013). The retaliatory
conducts of the led in Nigeria today does not reflect Nigeria’s national
ethics. Soialization on our national ethics should be spread out across all
ages.
Educational Objectives: Education is a Fundamental
Objective and Directive Principle of State
Policy contained in Chapter II, Section 18 of the
Constitution which provides that Government shall direct its policy towards
ensuring that there are equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels.
And that Government shall strive to eradicate illiteracy; and to this end
Government shall as and when practicable provide – (a) free, compulsory and
universal primary education; (b) free university education; and (c) free adult
literacy programme. The masses need be socialized on these lofty ideals for all
by the government. With the rate of insecurity in the country, and all its attendant
loss of human and material resources, government mays not be at liberty to
implement these educational objectives.
Economic Objectives: Section 16 of the Constitution
provides, among other things that:
The State shall, within the context of the ideals
and objectives for which provisions are made in this Constitution harness the
resources of the nation and promote national prosperity and an efficient,
dynamic and self-reliant economy; control the national economy in such manner as
to secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen on the
basis of social justice and equality of status and opportunity. But Uzosike
(2013) observed, Fourteen years after the return of civil rule, the southeast
zone is still looking impoverished and unattractive to investors. This is after
over N9 trillion has been appropriated and greater percentage possibly
squandered through fraud, waste and abuse by those we hold as our heroes and
great leaders.
Acquisition of Nigerian Citizenship
Citizenship can be acquired: By birth, By
Registration, By Naturalization, by conquest, by Government Concession or
Conferment. To acquire Nigerian citizenship, the 1999 Constitution, In Nigeria,
two groups of people can be granted this citizenship. The first is any foreign
woman married to a Nigeria indigene, and every person who possesses the
requisite age and capacity born outside Nigeria, any of whose grandparents is a
Nigerian. Such person may apply for registration as
a citizen of Nigeria, if he meets the Presidential
requirements.
Dual Citizenship
in Nigeria/Renunciation of Citizenship/Deprivation of citizenship
On Dual citizenship, a person shall forfeit his Nigerian
citizenship if, not being a citizen of Nigeria by birth, he acquires or retains
the citizenship or nationality of a country, other than Nigeria, of which he is
not a citizen by birth. A citizen of Nigeria of full age, may renounce his
Nigerian citizenship by making a declaration in the prescribed manner for the
renunciation, and the President shall cause the declaration to be registered,
thereupon the person ceases to be a Nigerian citizen. And the
President may deprive a person , other than a person
who is a citizen of Nigeria b y birth or by registration, of his citizenship,
if he is satisfied that such a person has within a period of seven years after
becoming naturalized, been sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less
than three years.
Duties and
obligations of citizens to the state
Section 24 of the 1999 Constitution provides that it
shall be the duty of every citizen to:-
a) Abide by this constitution, respect its ideals
and its institutions, the National Flag, the National Anthem, the National
Pledge, and legitimate authorities;
b) Help to enhance the power, prestige and good name
of Nigeria, defend Nigeria and render such national service as may be required;
c) Respect the dignity of other citizens and the
rights and legitimate interests of others and live in unity and harmony and in
the spirit of common brotherhood;
d) Make positive and useful contribution to the
advancement, progress and well-being of the community where he resides;
e) Render assistance to appropriate and lawful agencies
in the maintenance of law and order; and
f) Declare his income honestly to appropriate and
lawful agencies and pay his tax promptly.
In addition, it is the obligation of all citizens to
obey summons to give evidence in Court, if and when called upon to do so, as
well as to vote at elections and to be voted for.
Rights of
citizens from the state
Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria spells out the Fundamental Rights of the citizens. They are
contained in Sections 33 – 43, viz:
1. Right to Life: Every person has a right to life
and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of
the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been
found guilty in Nigeria.
2. Right to Dignity of Human Person: Every
individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person, and
accordingly no person, shall be subjected to torture, slavery forced labour or
to inhuman or degrading treatment.
3. Right to Personal Liberty: Everyone shall be
entitled to his personal liberty and no person shall be deprived of such
liberty except in accordance with a procedure permitted by law.
4. Right to Fair Hearing: A person shall be entitled
to a fair hearing within a reasonable time by a court or other tribunal
established by law and constituted in such manner as to secure its independence
and impartiality. Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be
presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty.
5. Right to Private and Family Life: The privacy of
citizens, their homes, correspondence, telephone conversations and telegraphic
communications are guaranteed and protected by the constitution.
6. Right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience and
Religion: Every person is entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion, including freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom to
manifest and propagate his religion or believe in worship, teaching, practice
and observance.
7. Right to Freedom of Expression and the Press:
Every person is entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold
opinion and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.
8. Right to Peaceful Assembly and Association: Every
person is entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in
particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any
other association for the protection of his interests.
9. Right to Freedom of Movement: Every citizen of
Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part
thereof and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused
entry thereto or exit therefrom.
10. Right to Freedom from Discrimination: Every
citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex,
religion, or political opinion are not made subjects, or accorded any privilege
or advantage that is not accorded to citizens of Nigeria of other communities,
ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religions, or political opinions.
Consequently, no citizen of Nigeria shall be
subjected to any disability or deprivation merely by reason of the
circumstances of his birth, ethnic group, sex, religion or political opinion.
11. Right to Private Property: Every citizen has the
right to own property. No movable property or any interest in any immovable
property shall be taken possession of compulsorily and no right over or
interest in any such property shall be acquired compulsorily in any part of
Nigeria except in the manner and for the purposes prescribed by law.
These rights can be deprived a citizen at any time -
in the circumstances prescribed by law.
Political Socialization: According to Ndoh and Ndoh
(1997), political socialization is the process of acquiring political beliefs,
values, attitudes as well as citizens’ political behavior. No other form of instructions
and or sensitization can better educate citizens and infuse desirable political
behaviours, beliefs, values and attitudes in them other than education for
citizenship. No matter how much anybody tries to socialize politically through
peer groups, the family, mass media, or political parties, the socialization
will still leave much to be desired. Are multitudes of Nigerians not seen, on
election days, going about their businesses in utter neglect of their
franchise? Some only give it a second thought if they receive some form of
gratification. This political apathy is due to lack of citizenship education.
Federal Character: In the days of Constitutional
development in Nigeria, there were jeremiad of successive constitutions owing
to bitter complaints by Nigerians, either that they were not consulted, that
there were no Nigerian members, where they were present, they were very few and
only nominated, and were merely unofficial members. As time went on, close to
independence, despite claims by the colonial government that some of the later
constitutions were designed to promote the unity of Nigeria, there were still
bitter complaints that no provision was made to secure greater participation of
Nigerians to decide their own affairs.
After independence, the complaints still gathered
momentum. This time, the hue and cry were of fears and suspicion that only one
or few ethnic groups may hijack the government and the running of the affairs
of the whole peoples of Nigeria. The fears were true of the several coup detats
witnessed in this country. To alley these fears, unhealthy rivalry and rancour
among Nigerians, the Federal Military Government of Nigeria, led by General
Murtala Mohammed, in October 1975 introduced the system known as Federal
Character into the country. It was embodied in the Constitution. The objective
was to promote national unity, foster national loyalty and give every Nigeria
citizen a sense of belonging to the nation, irrespective of differences in
religion, language, culture and tribe. The spirit and letter of the Federal
Character is that, the composition of the government of the federation or any
of its agencies and the conduct of their affairs shall be carried out in such a
way as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria, by ensuring that there
shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic
groups in the government or in any of its agencies.
But there is still clamour of suspicion, antagonism,
violence and vandalism due to lack of citizenship education of the citizenry.
All our lofty ideals and programmes crumble at implementation due to lack of
citizenship education, political apathy and the resultant bad leadership. The
patience of the followers appears now to have exhausted, hence insurrections, upheavals,
insecurity and all manner of evils persist.
CHAPTER THREE
CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Ignorance is a very serious disease which keeps
those suffering from it stunted for life. There is a dire need to socialize the
entire citizenry, especially children and the youths, who are the leaders of
tomorrow, about the society or the State. The organization of instructions,
programmes, sensitization, and training for young citizens in a formal school
setting cultivates in them desirable habits, values, behavioral patterns,
spirit of nationalism and patriotism that instills changes in the citizens
towards productive rewards to the state. Every human being is a citizen of a
state, but most people are unconscious
or ignorant of this. Some, conscious of it, often expect the state to provide
them with every human need, while they shy away from contributing to the
well-being of the state, owing to their very poor socialization orientation, or
a complete lack of it. Citizens are role players in the society; without
concrete and effective socialization, they lack the capacity to effectively
function productively as members of their state and beyond. This paper
advocates an education that can sensitize, socialize and induct the youths on
the need to give up their contemporary retaliatory violent and destructive
conducts which is threatening the foundation of
Nigeria. Such education and punitive measures to
purge the adult perpetrators of official corruption and self-enrichment by
embezzling public funds, which can further reform feuding leaders from inciting
the youths against their opponents in government will usher in the tranquility
all of us are yearning for. I have said earlier that education for citizenship
is a sine quo none for all citizens, particularly children and the youths who
are the leaders of tomorrow. Majority today want to participate in the
government of the country, to amass wealth, and nothing more! A citizen who is
not trained in citizenship education is deficient in role performance, in fact
ignorant of himself, of his immediate environment, the government, the state,
and of course, of events beyond his state. It is therefore, hereby suggested
that: merely by reason of the circumstances of his birth, ethnic group, sex,
religion or political opinion.
11. Right to Private Property: Every citizen has the
right to own property. No movable property or any interest in any immovable
property shall be taken possession of compulsorily and no right over or
interest in any such property shall be acquired compulsorily in any part of
Nigeria except in the manner and for the purposes prescribed by law. These
rights can be deprived a citizen at any time - in the circumstances prescribed
by law. Political Socialization: According to Ndoh and Ndoh (1997), political
socialization is the process of acquiring political beliefs, values, attitudes
as well as citizens’ political behavior. No other form of instructions and or
sensitization can better educate citizens and infuse desirable political behaviours,
beliefs, values and attitudes in them other than education for citizenship. No
matter how much anybody tries to socialize politically through peer groups, the
family, mass media, or political parties, the socialization will still leave
much to be desired. Are multitudes of Nigerians not seen, on election days,
going about their businesses in utter neglect of their franchise? Some only
give it a second thought if they receive some form of gratification. This
political apathy is due to lack of citizenship education. Federal Character: In
the days of Constitutional development in Nigeria, there were jeremiad of
successive constitutions owing to bitter complaints by Nigerians, either that
they were not consulted, that there were no Nigerian members, where they were
present, they were very few and only nominated, and were merely unofficial
members. As time went on, close to independence, despite claims by the colonial
government that some of the later constitutions were designed to promote the
unity of Nigeria, there were still bitter complaints that no provision was made
to secure greater participation of Nigerians to decide their own affairs. After
independence, the complaints still gathered momentum. This time, the hue and
cry were of fears and suspicion that only one or few ethnic groups may hijack
the government and the running of the affairs of the whole peoples of Nigeria.
The fears were true of the several coup detats witnessed in this country. To
alley these fears, unhealthy rivalry and rancour among Nigerians, the Federal
Military Government of Nigeria, led by General Murtala Mohammed, in October
1975 introduced the system known as Federal Character into the country. It was
embodied in the Constitution. The objective was to promote national unity,
foster national loyalty and give every Nigeria citizen a sense of belonging to
the nation, irrespective of differences in religion, language, culture and
tribe. The spirit and letter of the Federal Character is that, the composition
of the government of the federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of
their affairs shall be carried out in such a way as to reflect the federal
character of Nigeria, by ensuring that there shall be no predominance of
persons from a few states or from a few ethnic groups in the government or in
any of its agencies.
But there is still clamour of suspicion, antagonism,
violence and vandalism due to lack of citizenship education of the citizenry.
All our lofty ideals and programmes crumble at implementation due to lack of
citizenship education, political apathy and the resultant bad leadership. The
patience of the followers appears now to have exhausted, hence insurrections,
upheavals, insecurity and all manner of evils persist.
CONCLUSION
One may wonder or question why the writer chose to
dwell on this common topic, and still laying emphasis on socializing, training
and sensitizing citizens, particularly the young on concrete and effective
citizenship education, while Citizenship Education has been made a General
Course of study in our higher institutions for over a decade. The answer is
that the aims and objectives of introducing the Course in the schools have not
been achieved. There is still, on the increase, persistent mutual distrust
among the heterogeneous tribes of Nigeria against each other. The monster of
official corruption is also waxing stronger daily, irrespective of the presence
of EFCC, ICPC, SERVICOM, etc. Some persons at the helm of affairs of these
Commissions and others like them are too corrupt to occupy the posts. While the
notoriety of our youths rises daily internally and internationally, indolence,
cultism, armed robbery, bribery, embezzlement of public funds, dishonesty and
sharp practices are still staring us on the face. Prolonged bad leadership has provoked
and sparked the led into action and paved ways for new strange crimes -
kidnapping, suicide bombing, ritual killing and violence everywhere.
The entire citizenry need to conduct themselves
properly first, with effective citizenship education, we will soon realize the
noble ideals enshrined in our Constitution for our good. I pinch my tent with
Azikiwe (1997) who said: “My view is that whilst we must admit that Nigeria is
multilingual with variegated cultures, there are some unifying elements in its
conflicting ideologies which could be harmonized by adaptation to modern
criteria and practices. If progenitors could create a social atmosphere which
was stable and it enabled them to survive the struggle for existence, it is logical
to conclude that their ideology worked. The practicability of their ideology is
sufficient justification for us, their successors, to build on such a
foundation, especially in view of our higher intellectual attainments in a
civilization that is more sophisticated than what our precursors were accustomed
to”. With rich mineral and human resources in Nigeria, the sky is our limit,
what lacks is effective and proper sensitization and socialization orientation
which citizenship education for all, especially the youths, offers.
REFERENCES
Achebe,
C. (2012). There was a Country: A personal History of Biafra. U.S. Penguin
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